Used Tapes Proliferate - But Beware

December 13, 1985|By Joe Saltzman, Special to the News and Sun-Sentinel

Just when you thought it was safe to go into your neighborhood home video store, here comes the latest monster to plague you - used tape cassettes.

The used-tape market is growing larger every day. With new releases costing more than $70 apiece, many small stores are buying used tapes to flesh out their meager inventories. A large video rental store sells off its used tapes to smaller stores that rent and occasionally sell these tapes to the consumer. ``Used-tape brokers`` now buy 75 percent of the used tapes and sell them to retail outlets; consumers buy the rest.

For store owners, used tapes are a way to keep rising inventory costs down. For consumers, it means lower rental prices and more titles from which to choose. This all makes good economic sense, but as usual, product quality is the first victim. Used tapes that are sold have been played many times on all kinds of home VCRs and often are in terrible condition. Worse yet, there is no way of knowing what kind of tape you are getting - how many times it has been played and under what conditions. A poorly maintained machine can destroy a tape.

When renting or buying tapes, it is a good idea to go to a store in your neighborhood with a good reputation for tape quality. The larger stores often provide fresher tapes. If you buy a ``bargain`` used tape, play it first. Check picture and sound quality carefully.

Although it is illegal to sell a used tape as new, unscrupulous dealers have been known to do just that. Just because a tape has a shrink-wrap on it, doesn`t mean it is new. As always, let the buyer beware.